Wrap up and beyond.

This post is only a month overdue. Spectacular.



The bodpod results after the 30 day tests were unbelievable. I lost 5 pounds overall, however 7.1 pounds of that was honest to god fat, the other remarkable thing was I gained 2.2 pounds of lean body mass (i.e. muscle). That's the holy grail as far as body development goes. Usually if you lose fat, you lose muscle. If you gain muscle, you gain a bit of fat. Very rarely do you do both at the same time. The astonishment on the bodpod assessor's face when she read the results was totally worth it.



So what have I been doing since?



It was 4 days till beer. I drank my first beer on day 5. Sadly it was a Fat Tire ale, and while I enjoy Fat Tire, it wasn't the Sam Adams Boston Lager draft I was searching for. It was spectacular though, and I caught a buzz off of a single pint. I followed it up with a glass of Macallan 12, which was also spectacular, then sat there drinking water for an hour feeling like a total wuss.



I've stayed mostly Paleo since then, just having the occasional beer. I had pasta a few times in the last month, no real dairy to speak of, and haven't really deviated from my Paleo menu. Of course I was eating roasts and roast chicken mainly before, just with no reason behind it. I'm used to black coffee now, so that's how I take it. I wasn't a big pop drinker, so I haven't had any outside of Captain and Cokes.



I did totally go off the rails the week of Thanksgiving, and paid a price for it. I took the week off from work so I sat around, ate what I wanted (pasta, really bad chinese food) and drank what I wanted (quite a bit of those aforementioned Captain and Cokes). The result? I think I gained about 3 pounds of fat back, plus an overall feeling of malaise. I restarted a self-whole30 challenge on Monday and with the exception of the guys in work's cafeteria accidentally making my omlette WITH cheese, I've been doing well. Yeah, it's only 4 days in, but hey, it's still progress.

I ate only 1/3 of the omlette with cheese, thinking that some food would be better than no food before heading to CF, but I was met with a staggering stomachache about 2 minutes into the cheesefest. My digestional tract was in agony the rest of the day.

I've mainly been making roasts. I should really get a chicken again soon, because I'm fearing the day I say "THE HELL WITH YOU ROAST!" And then all I'll have is chicken. "Good" pork is so unbelievably expensive it's prohibitive. Two pork chops for $10. I can't afford that. It's offically "Minnesota Winter" with the 14 degree high temps and the where-did-my-testicles-go-oh-look-they're-in-my-body-cavity windchill. In other words, there goes grilling for the season.

My low peak weight for the challenge was 187.3 (bodpod) and my current weight, roughly a month after that, is 190.5 (this morning). I think with this current 30 day trial I might be able to get down around 183 or so? Adding some muscle, losing some fat? There's also another 30 day gym challenge starting on January 1, which I think I'm going to partake in as well. What the hell, right?

It's not like I hear chainsaws behind me.